Squaring the Square

Josef Albers’s groundbreaking series Homage to the Square comprises roughly two thousand oil paintings. His continuous reflections and refinements for more than 25 years inspired numerous young minimal and conceptual artists in their search for a reduced formal language. This outstanding catalogue explores the secret of Albers’s subtle aesthetic and unearths its preconditions: What is the significance of the square? How does his impression of color and its use as a material change during this period? Featuring studies on paper, archival materials, as well as essays by internationally leading Albers experts such as Jeannette Redensek and Heinz Liesbrock, this richly illustrated publication sheds light on the various inspirations that influenced Albers early on in Europe and later in America, and illustrates the lasting impact of his art and thinking.

As an influential teacher, writer, painter, and color theorist Josef Albers (1888, Bottrop–1976, New Haven, CT) is one of the leading pioneers of twentieth-century modernism. From 1923 onwards he taught at the Bauhaus, and continued to do so after his emigration to the USA in 1933 at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and at Yale University, where he worked on his Homage to the Square from 1950 until his death. 

Heinz Liesbrock (*1953) was the long-standing director of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat in Bottrop. He has written extensively on Albers and his influence on art history.

Josef Albers’s classic Interaction of Color is a masterwork in art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this influential book presents Albers’s singular explanation of complex color theory principles.

Originally published by Yale University Press in 1963 as a limited silkscreen edition with 150 color plates, Interaction of Color first appeared in paperback in 1971, featuring ten color studies chosen by Albers, and has remained in print ever since. With over a quarter of a million copies sold in its various editions since 1963, Interaction of Color remains an essential resource on color, as pioneering today as when Albers first created it.

Fifty years after Interaction’s initial publication, this anniversary edition presents a significantly expanded selection of close to sixty color studies alongside Albers’s original text, demonstrating such principles as color relativity, intensity, and temperature; vibrating and vanishing boundaries; and the illusion of transparency and reversed grounds. A celebration of the longevity and unique authority of Albers’s contribution, this landmark edition will find new audiences in studios and classrooms around the world.

About the Author:

Josef Albers, one of the most influential artist-educators of the twentieth century, was a member of the Bauhaus group in Germany during the 1920s. In 1933 he came to the United States, where he taught at Black Mountain College for sixteen years. In 1950 he joined the faculty at Yale University as chairman of the department of design. Albers was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1968 and was professor emeritus of art at Yale until his death in 1976.

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Пролистать книгу Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition на Google Books.

Книга "Взаимодействие цвета" - итог многолетних экспериментов Джозефа Альберса, стремившегося постичь природу цвета и его свойств.

Впервые изданная в 1963 году, она практически сразу стала бестселлером, каковым остается и по сей день.

Это одна из главных книг в мире по теории искусства. Она адресована как профессиональным художникам и дизайнерам, преподавателям и студентам, так и всем тем, кто хочет научиться творчески воспринимать цвет. Это кладезь идей, связанных с цветовыми эффектами и оптическими иллюзиями, уникальная возможность постичь загадку игры цветовых оттенков и их бесконечных вариаций.